Bitcoin Drops Below $8K Amidst Twitter and Reddit Ban

Bitcoin’s price is continuing on a downward spiral as the trading market loses volume and sellers step onto the scene. In the past week, the cryptocurrency lost over $1,000 in value, dipping below $8K and marking almost a full month of negative price swings since the start of March when the price neared $12,000. As the market signals indicate, the price correction might be coming to an end as buyers step on the scene.

One of the strong reasons why Bitcoin is suffering right now could be the recent bans from major social networks and Google who have tightened rules on cryptocurrency-related advertising and banned all crypto-adds. The latest company to join Facebook and Google is Twitter which banned crypto-ads on Tuesday, as reported by Reuters.

Per the new advertising policy of Twitter, within the next 30 days all ads related to Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) but also cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets will be banned. Reportedly, while the ban on ICOs is definite, Bitcoin wallets and exchanges that are publicly listed with major stock markets will be exempt from it.

Buying Interest Increases

Since Wednesday, Bitcoin’s price dropped down from the $9,000 mark only to climb up during the weekend and start going down again on Sunday. The lowest price point during the past 7 days was $7,797.28 and it was hit on Tuesday morning, while the highest price point during that time was hit in the early hours of Saturday when Bitcoin reached a price of $8,982.55.

The trading volume was also relatively low during the past week, showing lowered interest in trading Bitcoin. The 24-hour volume was mostly between $5-6 billion during this period but has since declined to the current $4.9 billion. The market capitalization has also declined, amounting to $134 billion at the time of writing.

Our technical analysis shows that the market is turning bullish, with short-term signals showing a pro-buy mood. Out of 12 technical oscillators, 6 are pointing upwards to indicate a buying interest and 6 out of 12 moving averages indicate the same trend. With the SMA 100 down below the SMA 200 with a wider gap, the path to least resistance is to the downside. However, should the buying trends continue, we might see a much-needed push towards $8,400.

Reddit Stops Taking Bitcoin for Gold Memberships

Another major player in online social interaction – the Reddit forum – has likewise decided to stop accepting Bitcoin, although discussions in its r/btc subreddit are still a healthy part of its community. As spotted by Mashable, the online forum has stopped accepting payments for its gold memberships via Bitcoin.

Reddit has always been a supporter of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency. The forum has two types of memberships, Regular and Gold, with the latter giving users access to various advanced features like no ads, custom avatars, themes, as well as the option to create private sub-forums for only gold members. Until a while ago, one of the accepted payment methods for the premium membership was Bitcoin but since last week the list of payment options has been limited to PayPal and credit cards.

While the exclusion of Bitcoin comes at a curious time, according to reports it has nothing to do with Reddit turning on the cryptocurrency but more with changes in the terms of service of Coindesk Commerce – Reddit’s Bitcoin merchant service. As commented by a Reddit admin, it is a combination of bugs in Bitcoin payments and a change in the terms of service of Coinbase that led Reddit to drop the payment option.